Elimination of a villain or manslaughter?

What people want from Neely’s death is not demonization or heroization of Penny, but a reflection on the “role of public authorities.”

PARK HYUNG-SOOThe author is an international news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo. Jordan Neely, 30, was a New York celebrity. He was often seen impersonating Michael Jackson around Times Square. But he was notorious for his subway disturbances rather than dance skills. In 2016, Neely punched the door to the subway station office in which a female employee was working alone and threatened to kill her. In 2021, he punched a 67-year-old woman who was getting off the train for no reason and broke her nose.

Neely, a homeless man with mental illnesses, has been arrested more than 40 times for drugs and assault charges over the past 10 years. He was also on New York City’s ‘Top 50 list’ of homeless people who urgently need help. The Wall Street Journal reported that he was a typical mentally ill man roaming the streets and subways of New York.

On May 1, Neely prompted another disturbance. He shouted, “I don’t have food. I don’t have a drink. I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.” Fellow passengers were anxious, but no police officer appeared to stop him. Then, someone restrained Neely around his neck and subdued him. It was Daniel Penny, 24, a white Marine veteran. After receiving several awards in the military, he was studying architecture upon discharge from active service. Neely died two minutes after Penny restrained him. Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Is Penny a righteous man who tried to protect “self and others” or a murderer who overreacted to the “hungry vulnerable”? American liberals called Penny a “killer” and called his supporters “disgusting.” Conversations about racism over the “murder of a black man by a white man” also started. Meanwhile, conservatives praised him as a “subway hero” and argued that “if he is punished, no one in the United States will intervene to save people in danger or prevent criminal activities in the future.”

The New York Times pointed out that civil society cannot exist when the rule of law fails. A mentally ill person was allowed to get on the subway without protective measures, was not stopped for making a disturbance, and the systematic flaw of failing to secure passengers’ safety led to the intervention of a civilian such as Penny.

In New York City, there are more than 200,000 people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder, of which 5 percent are homeless. Most New Yorkers complain of their experiences of being harassed on the subway — such as being hit by juice bottles or having their hair pulled. What people want from Neely’s death is not demonization or heroization of Penny, but a reflection on the “role of public authorities.”